Evaluation of the opinions of teachers working in basic education institutions on participation in school management

The aim of this research is to analyze the participation of teachers working in primary education institutions in school management. For this purpose, the opinions of the teachers working in the basic education institutions participating in the research were taken. The research was designed as a descriptive and relational research and was conducted using mixed method. The population of the research consists of 6046 primary and secondary school teachers in the Artuklu and Kızıltepe districts of Mardin. The sample for the quantitative dimension of the study consists of 450 teachers. While Başyiğit's (2009) "teachers participation scale in decision making process" was used as a quantitative data collection tool in the research, a structured opinion-taking form with 10 questions was used as a qualitative data collection tool. The sample of the quantitative dimension of the research consists of 450 teachers. For the analysis of quantitative data, descriptive analysis and SPSS 26.0 package program were used, and Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H and Spearma's Ranking Correlation coefficient tests were applied. In the qualitative data analysis of the research, the content analysis method was preferred. As a result of the research, 26 of the 50 participating teachers found participation in school management sufficient, while 24 participants found it insufficient. Accordingly, 52% of teachers consider participation in school management decisions sufficient. In addition, 35 participants emphasized "school management issues" and 12 participants emphasized "teacher issues" for factors that reduce teachers' participation in school administration. While the attitude of the school administration is effective as the most important of the school management issues that negatively affect participation in the school administration, the most important issue about the teachers that negatively affects the participation in the school administration is the high workload of the teachers. According to the quantitative findings of the study, it was determined that the level of participation of male teachers in school management was higher than the level of participation of female teachers. It has been determined that students' participation in school management is at a high level in matters related to school attendance/absenteeism, factors affecting student failure, social activities at school and rewarding students. On the other hand, participation in the school administration was found at a low level in matters related to purchasing, the income/expenditure of the school, and elective courses. School management should take the opinions and suggestions of teachers on related issues. In order to ensure the participation of teachers in school management, it is thought that it would be beneficial to select qualified school management staff and to inform teachers about legal regulations by the school administration. The data obtained from the interviews conducted with the teachers working in the basic education institution using structured opinion-seeking questions also support the quantitative dimension data of the research.